Strategyzer

February 14, 2025

min read

When Switzerland's tourism sector needed to modernize its innovation funding approaches, they faced a significant hurdle: how to shift from gut feelings to evidence-based decisions. Working with Strategyzer, they discovered that combining structured methods with hands-on guidance could transform how they evaluate and develop new ideas.

Companies that are prepared for disruption are constantly reinventing themselves. They don’t believe they are invincible. The main task of leadership today is to constantly reinvent your organisation.”

Switzerland's tourism innovations often lack evidence-based decision making, relying instead on rigid project formats. The industry needed a better way to evaluate and support innovative projects while helping teams unfamiliar with structured innovation methods.

A four-month program combining intensive in-person workshops with Strategyzer's digital platform guided teams through systematic customer discovery. The approach balanced structured methodology with human connection, allowing teams to progress at their own pace while maintaining momentum.

Every team conducted at least 15 customer interviews, gathering unprecedented market insights. Teams delivered evidence-based proposals that impressed stakeholders, demonstrating a more effective evaluation approach. This success opened the door for systematic, customer-focused innovation across Swiss tourism.

We needed to bring evidence-based decision making to how we fund innovation in tourism. The old way of relying on rigid project formats wasn't working anymore.”

Jacques Panchard

Innovation Coach

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The challenge

Swiss tourism innovation funding programs faced a critical challenge: How could they better evaluate and support innovative projects in an industry not traditionally versed in structured innovation methods? The existing process relied heavily on rigid project formats, lacking the incremental, evidence-based approach needed for sustainable innovation.

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The journey

Jacques Panchard, an experienced innovation coach, partnered with Strategyzer to guide multiple Swiss tourism teams through a transformation of their innovation process. The goal was ambitious: introduce structured innovation methods to an industry more comfortable with traditional approaches while maintaining the human connection essential for success.

"These people started really from scratch and from very far away," explains Jacques. "The first goal was to bring them to a level where they really understand and are able to use the methodology itself."

The program began with an intensive three-day workshop in the Swiss Alps, where teams were introduced to the fundamentals of evidence-based innovation. What followed was a four-month sprint combining in-person coaching with remote support through Strategyzer's Platform.

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A guided program on the Strategyzer Platform.

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The breakthrough

The results surprised even the most skeptical participants. Every team conducted at least 15 customer interviews, gathering unprecedented direct insights from their market. For many, this was their first experience with systematic customer discovery.

"What happens again and again is that people do interviews but they don't really analyse them," Jacques notes. "The platform's guided interview templates forced teams to be more objective and helped them capture all the wealth of information they collected."

The structured approach paid off. During the final pitch workshop, Swiss industry representatives and experts were notably impressed with the teams' evidence-based proposals – a marked improvement from the previous expert-opinion-based system.

What happens again and again is that people do interviews but they don't really analyse them. The platform's guided interview templates forced teams to be more objective and helped them capture all the wealth of information they collected.”

Jacques Panchard

Innovation Coach

Key learnings

1. Balance digital and human touch

"For this kind of audience, going with a full collaborative tool would not be enough," Jacques emphasizes. The combination of in-person workshops with digital tools proved essential for success.

2. Adapt to different learning speeds

Teams progressed at different paces, with some quickly embracing the new methods while others needed more time. The platform's flexibility allowed each team to advance at their optimal speed while maintaining momentum.

3. Structure enables creativity

The systematic approach to gathering and analysing customer insights, rather than limiting creativity, actually enabled teams to build stronger, more validated proposals.

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The impact

The project achieved its core objective: demonstrating a new, more effective way to evaluate and support innovation in Swiss tourism. The government sponsor's positive response to the evidence-based pitches in a structured process signals a potential shift in how innovation funding might be approached in the future.

One team member, working as a dedicated resource, spent approximately 40-50% of their time on the project and completed extensive customer discovery work. This level of dedication resulted in robust, validated insights that could drive real change in their organisation.

"We have good feedback from the sponsor regarding what they saw during the pitching workshop," Jacques reports. This success opens the door for a more systematic, evidence-based approach to innovation across the Swiss tourism sector.

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Looking ahead

The teams are now entering their second sprint, armed with validated insights and growing confidence in their innovation capabilities. The focus is shifting from pure discovery to testing specific solutions, building on the strong foundation of customer understanding they've developed.

Strategyzer

February 14, 2025

It was a tremendous amount of work and we are extremely thankful to the whole team at Strategyzer. We learnt so much: three years ago we didn't really know how to start, and now I think we have built robust program that generations after us can continue to run.”

Henning Till

Head of Corporate Innovation, Bayer

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